


Blinding, Like the Sun

by houdini74



Series: Clint and Marcy [6]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Committed Relationship, Communicating is Hard, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 04:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20325064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: Marcy and Patrick have breakfast and a long overdue conversation before the wedding.





	Blinding, Like the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sixth of my stories told from Patrick’s parents POV (in this case, Marcy). Each story is a stand alone, but they do build on each other. For those who haven’t read the others, my basic premise is that Patrick’s parents love him very much but that all three of them are terrible communicators and together, they are learning to communicate with each other and rebuild their relationship. (Also, Marcy in particular adores David).
> 
> To read the series in chronological order: Mostly to Yourself (Marcy), Everything She Ever Wanted (Marcy), Everything He Ever Wanted (Clint), An Open Door (Marcy), Better with Practice (Clint) and now Blinding, Like the Sun (Marcy)

Marcy gets to the cafe fifteen minutes earlier than they agreed. She didn't mean to be this early, but her eagerness to have breakfast with Patrick pulls her out the door ahead of schedule and she overestimates the time it takes to walk from the motel to the cafe. 

She settles into the booth. The waitress, Twyla, brings her a cup of tea and she wraps her hands around it. She and Clint arrived in town last night and the next three days before the wedding will be a whirlwind of last minute preparations. She’s excited and maybe the tiniest bit nervous to see Patrick. It’s been a very long time, since before he moved to Schitt’s Creek, maybe even before he and Rachel got engaged, that they’ve talked face to face, just the two of them. 

They’ve talked more in the past two months than they ever had before. Even as she chats with David regularly about decorations and place settings, she and Patrick talk about things that will happen after they’re married. She knows he and David are searching for a new apartment and he’s told her about their plans to expand the store. She knows he’s nervous about the wedding, but in a good, excited way, not like it was with Rachel. And she knows how happy he is. It’s a revelation by itself. Every time they speak, she can hear it flowing out of him, unstoppable.

“Hi Mom.”

Patrick kisses her quickly on the cheek before sliding into the booth across from her. He looks, for lack of a better word, comfortable. Relaxed and confident within himself. She has never, in his entire life, seen him look like this. She smiles at him and the silence lasts a moment longer than is enjoyable.

“What?” His question is soft, without the accusation that it might have once contained.

“You look so happy.” And suddenly, there’s a lump in her throat. 

He smiles back and it’s blinding, like looking at the sun. He should come with a warning, ‘do not stare, may cause eye damage’. “I am. I’m really, really happy.” He laughs, like he accepts it but can’t quite believe it.

She didn’t come with a plan or an agenda. She wants to spend this sliver of time, just the two of them, before the wedding bears down on both of them and everything changes, permanently. They don’t see each other often and their conversations have been rocky at times over the past three years. It’s been getting better, but sometimes it’s still difficult, for both of them. 

When Patrick had told them he was gay, all she’d been able to see was his fear. In that moment, she’d vowed to do everything she could so he’d never be afraid to talk to her again. It hasn’t been easy. The distance makes it hard and neither she nor Patrick are well-practiced as sharing what they feel. Still, she’s trying and she thinks he is too. So she didn’t rehearse the words, but they just leak out of her, accidentally. 

“Patrick...you know I love you very, very much.” She reaches across the table and covers his hands with her own. His jaw clenches and she wonders if he’s reminded of the last time they sat across from each other in this booth. How can he not be? The memory of it surrounds them both.

“I love you too.” It’s a reflex and he looks cautious and apprehensive about what she might say next.

“We always wanted what was best for you. Always. But...I think we maybe didn’t listen to you, not like we should have. And I’m sorry.” She’s thought about this a lot, not just since Patrick had told them about him and David, but even before, after he’d left home and she’d struggled to understand what had driven him to go. She’s combed through her memories, thinking of all the times that he forced himself to go through the motions, the times he’d wanted something different from what they were convinced was good enough. 

He swallows, roughly and his hands clench beneath hers.

“I…thank you.” There’s a bit of tension in his body now and she regrets putting it there, but she needs him to go into his wedding knowing how much they love and support him. “I think...I wasn’t always good at the talking part. So maybe we both can do better?”

They smile at each other and she lets go of his hands when Twyla comes to take their order. There’s a long silence after Twyla leaves and Patrick fiddles with his cutlery for a minute. He looks up at her and there’s something warm in the back of his eyes that she can’t identify. He takes a deep breath, like he’s made a decision.

“I want...I’d like to tell you about David. Can I do that?”

She thinks about the moments she’s missed over the past three years. The phone call to say ‘I’ve met someone’ or the texts and photos of special occasions, the things they didn’t get to share when they happened.

“I’d like that very much.” There are tears in her eyes, but she blinks them away before he can notice. Or, if he notices, he doesn’t say anything. “Tell me how you met.” She knows the broad strokes of the story from the bits and pieces that have come up here and there in conversation, but she wants to hear him tell it, wants to see it through his eyes.

He laughs and she can tell he’s collecting his thoughts, trying to decide where to start. “David came in to get his business license. I’d...I’d never seen anyone like him.” He pauses, and she thinks about the first time she’d met David. She’d never seen anyone like him before either. Clint had said that meeting David was like meeting a unicorn and she couldn’t disagree.

“He got so flustered when I started asking questions. But he was charming at the same time. You know how he is.” She nods. She does know. She’s seen how David is when he’s caught off guard and doesn’t understand something the way he should. “I wasn’t sure I’d hear from him again. I wanted to, but I honestly thought he might give up. But then he called me that afternoon and left me all these voicemails. It was basically his business plan, in a twelve part audio format.”

“You still have them, don’t you? The voicemails.” She’s sure of it. Patrick was the kid who collected rocks and sticks from the lake so he could remember their vacation when they came home. There is no question in her mind that he has saved those messages.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He looks down at the table, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. He clears his throat. “At first...at first I convinced myself that I just liked his business idea. There’s not much creativity in this town, it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. That lasted about three days. When I invested in the store, that’s what I told myself, but deep down I knew that David was the real reason.”

She wants to ask him about the spontaneity of that decision. He’d never been someone who jumped into things. Even as a little boy, he thought everything through. But she doesn’t want to sidetrack his story. “And then?”

“And then we worked together for three months. And every day was wonderful and awful.” He pauses for a moment, reflecting. “It was good, I think. Gave me time to process some things.” His expression is wistful and she imagines the things he must have thought about and come to terms with during that time. Would she have been able to help him if she’d known? Beyond telling him she loved him, she’s not sure what she could have done. Maybe that would have been enough.

“After we opened the store, I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t...not know anymore. So I asked him out on his birthday. He brought Stevie.” His eyes are dancing as he remembers although she suspects he wasn’t as amused at the time.

“What?” This is new. She hasn’t heard this part of their story before. It’s ridiculous. But knowing David as she does, it seems exactly like something he would do.

“Just as his friend. Not as his date. I wasn’t clear that it was a date. You’re not the only one I have trouble communicating with sometimes.” He grins at her, sheepishly, and it’s an acknowledgement that he sees how things are changing between them. She can’t help but smile back, imagining how awkward and painful it must have been to finally get up the courage to ask someone out only to have them invite their friend to come with them.

“Thankfully, Stevie is smarter than both of us and she figured it out. And then, at the end of the night, he kissed me.” He’s lost in the memory now, his eyes are distant, lips curving upwards as he thinks about it. His words unleash something, a distant memory of her and Clint’s first kiss, making her feel warm inside. She wonders if Patrick would have told her if they’d talked after David had kissed him. He probably wouldn’t have said anything, she decides. Not until there was some definition to their relationship. 

“When did you know? That it was something...more.”

“From the beginning maybe? But for sure after the first night we spent together.” He blushes then, a beautiful shade of pink, like he can’t believe he just said that to her. She laughs out loud and he looks even more embarrassed.

“Honey, I know you and David are having sex.” He turns even pinker and she laughs even harder. “You can skip the details though.”

Twyla brings their breakfasts and he’s never looked so grateful to be interrupted. Once they’ve settled into their food, she looks over at him again. “Did you tell him then?”

“No. Not for a long time. Not directly.” He chews on his lip for a second, trying to decide what to say. “David’s relationships weren’t always the best. Before.” She considers the weight of that statement and what it must have meant for both of them. She thinks about the stories she’d found online when she’d googled David. She suspects they were only the tip of the iceberg.

“And then Rachel came.” She winces, knowing it’s her fault that Rachel knew where to find him. He sees it and he shakes his head. “It was my fault, too.” He’s not entirely letting her off the hook, it’s more like he’s sharing the burden. He clears his throat. “I thought...I thought I’d lost him. I thought I’d screwed up the best thing that had ever happened to me.” Even after all the time that’s passed, his eyes are tearing up as he remembers. He blinks quickly, looking down at his plate. The moment stretches out and she can tell he’s not sure how to jump back into the story.

“You did tell him.” It’s not a question.

“Yeah. It wasn’t anything special, that day. David was just being...David and I couldn’t help it. And I scared him, I think. And then he didn’t say it back right away, which kind of scared me.” He’s smiling to himself, more amused than anything else. “And you know the rest. Mostly. Since you don’t want the details.” He’s cheeky now, smirking at her. She’s missed that about him. 

He’s still grinning at her when a voice interrupts them. “What are we doing over here?” David slides into the booth beside Patrick, kissing him on the cheek. “Hi, Marcy.” He reaches over to steal a couple of pieces of bacon from the edge of Patrick’s plate. As David takes them she realizes that Patrick has saved them for him. It’s almost too much to think about.

“We’re talking about you.” Patrick teases him and David instantly looks uncomfortable. 

“We’re getting married in three days and we can’t get our deposits back so I think it’s too late to tell your mom if you have regrets.” He’s joking, she thinks. Mostly. But there’s a desire for reassurance in his words as well.

“Never.” There’s more behind that single word than she understands. Comfort, confidence, an inside joke. Patrick touches David’s hand for the briefest second and David visibly relaxes. 

“Um...I don’t want to interrupt or intrude or whatever, but we have the last fittings today and an appointment at the hall before the caterers and the decorations arrive.” David is trying to act calm, but she can tell he’s anxious about the day that’s in front of them. 

“Go.” She shoos Patrick out of the booth. “Breakfast is on me.” She smiles, softly. “Thank you for telling me.”

He’s already following David as they slide out of their seats, but he turns back. “Thank you for listening.”

***


End file.
